Quick Start for Home-Grown Tomatoes

How satisfying to be the first in your neighborhood to boast of a tomato harvest! If you are on this quest, your seeds are already germinating in a seed- starting medium of fine milled peat moss and vermiculite, under grow lights –two each of alternating cool-white and warm, placed just 3” from the tops of the plants, and thriving in a warm environment of 68-78 degrees. Your sprouts are enjoying daily gentle watering, and of course all are properly labeled.

Here are a few tips to get the fastest growth. First of all, forget about top growth; the roots are most important at this stage. Transplant your seedlings several times into ever larger, ever deeper pots, pinching off lower leaves each time, setting the plant deep down into the pot and filling it up with soil. The hairs on the stems will transform into more roots. Bottom heat from a seed starting mat will keep the root growth happening. 

One way to toughen up the seedlings while they are still in a protected indoor environment is to give them a gentle breeze to thicken up their stems. Blow on them when you visit them, or set up a fan some distance away. Air circulation may also prevent damping off, the sudden loss of seedlings to a soggy environment.

As the weather warms up, it’s time to think about setting out the tomato plants. There’s more to consider besides the last frost date. Soil temperature is the major consideration. Anything below 60 degrees will set back your 6-10” tall plants. Now, you have already amended your soil with compost, added calcium or lime, and introduced some 5-10-10 fertilizer. And you have toughened up your tomato plants by placing them outside in partial shade. The weather is warm, but the soil is still cold. What to do? 

Here are two solutions for chilly soil. First, if the top few inches are warm enough, dig a trench for the transplant, pinching off lower leaves, laying the tomato plant on its side, covering all but the remaining foliage with soil. Within days the plant will be growing upright. Another way to warm up soil is to dig out the top few inches and lay down below the trench a good layer of uncomposted kitchen garbage. This will provide heat for the roots above. 

Use of decomposing materials for bottom heat can also be a way to speed up the date of setting out of plants if you can protect the foliage as well with gallon milk jugs or other containers. The plants will need to be uncovered daily to prevent overheating. This tactic is for the most ambitious, competitive tomato growers who might wish to experiment with setting out a few plants even before the last frost date.

So much promise in these spindly seedlings we are growing! Good luck!

Hankering for Spring? Try Hellebores!

It is one more day of overcast skies and freezing temperatures.  Will spring ever arrive?  When I stare out at my bleak garden I spy one delightfully frilly reminder of spring’s recuperative powers.  My Hellebores are blooming like crazy! This diverse group of plants is evergreen, has flowers that last for months, and blooms at the dreary end of winter.  It is also very much in vogue--Helleborus x hybridus or lenten rose was named as the 2005 perennial plant of the year by the Perennial Plant Association.  By now you may want to drop the paper and rush to the nearest nursery if you don’t already have at least one of these incredible beauties in your garden.  But, hold your hats for a bit more information—these are very interesting plants.

According to Wikipedia, “Several legends surround the hellebore; in witchcraft it is believed to have ties to summoning demons. Helleborus niger is commonly called the Christmas rose, due to an old legend that it sprouted in the snow from the tears of a young girl who had no gift to give the Christ Child in Bethlehem.
In Greek mythology, Melampus of Pylos used hellebore to save the daughters of the king of Argos from a madness, induced by Dionysus, that caused them to run naked through the city, crying, weeping, and screaming.

During the Siege of Kirrha in 585 BC, hellebore was reportedly used by the Greek besiegers to poison the city's water supply. The defenders were subsequently so weakened by diarrhea that they were unable to defend the city from assault.

Some historians believe that Alexander the Great died because of a hellebore overdose, when he took it as medication.”  Now, that is one colorful biography!

Hellebores have long been used in homeopathic medicine; however they have poisonous properties (see above!) so its home use is discouraged. They are coarse perennial herbs with palmately or pedately lobed leaves.  The flowers, resembling large buttercups to whose family they belong, either hang like pastel petticoats or face up to the sun.  They thrive in the shady border in good garden soil.  Like most plants they need consistent moisture, but mine have done well through these two hot, dry summers.  They form pleasing clumps that can be divided or if the flowers are left on, will self seed.  My seedlings were blooming the second season.  Common strains with a variety of colorful blooms, though lavender and pale green seem to predominate, are widely available.  The newer hybridized varieties, “Winter Jewels,” “Royal Heritage,” “Brandywine” or even the Helleborus niger mentioned above, for instance, offer a more intense palette but might only be found online. However, I did locate Helleborus “WalHelivory” (Ivory Prince) at Lewis’s Nursery and feel it is exceptional.  Its white veined green leaves and red stems are beautiful all year and it produces plump oval buds that open to consistent ivory-colored flowers.  I think these would be lovely in a woodland garden and pair well (and alliteratively) with hostas and heucheras.

For more information, consult your nearby nurseries.  Books on Hellebores are not widely available, but The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Hellebores, by Graham Rice and Elizabeth Stranman should be relatively easy to find and contains a great deal of information. 

Eleanor Moyer, Master Gardener